What was the ISS chasing last night?

Shano592 (Shane) · #1 09-03-2019, 08:35 AM

Last night while partaking in an evening stroll along the lakefront, my partner and I noticed the ISS racing overhead, as it does on many evenings lately.

However, it was trailing behind a fainter object, travelling in the same direction, at the same relative velocity. We both watched this until it entered the Earth's shadow.

What were we watching? I have my suspicions, but it's Saturday, and this is the limit of my research... at least until I hit the bottom of the coffee cup...

glend (Glen) · #2 09-03-2019, 08:41 AM

The SpaceX Dragon Crew Capsule had just detacted from the ISS and was beginning re-entry, perhaps that is what you saw. It is white and highly reflective so it might show up. You could probably find the time it disconnected, and there is a splash down story in the news feeds this morning, so you could convert the time window.

Shano592 (Shane) · #3 09-03-2019, 08:46 AM

Hi Glen,

I did see the news article... that was actually my prompt to recall what I had seen.

I suppose that it would have been between 8:15 and 8:45pm last night.

xp1965 (Trevor) · #4 10-03-2019, 05:42 PM

Did any one get any pictures of it ?